A SERMON PREACHED September 9 th 1683. Being the Day of THANKSGIVING FOR God's Wonderful Providence and Mercy in Discovering and Defeating the late Treasonable Conspiracy against his Sacred Majesty's Person and Government By JOHN CHAPMAN M. A. and Minister-of Bernard-Castle in the Bishoprick of Durham 1 Pet. 2. 7. Fear God Honour the King LONDON Printed by H. Hills Jun. for Charles Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street M DC LXXXIV TO THE READER THE Author 's great distance from the Press and his no less Averseness to appear in publick tho at last overcome by the Importunity of Friends have occasion'd the Delay in publishing the ensuing Discourse and yet perhaps it will be thought that in regard to his Years to the Treatise it self and to its small importance to the Publick he ought rather to apologize for his Forwardness now in exposing it But however this his Undertaking may be censur'd by some on the former Account as late and unseasonable or by others on the latter as vain and inconsiderate he hopes betwixt them he may find those who will put a more favourable Construction both upon the Discourse it self and the Inducements to print it As for those who may account him too severe in it if their own Consciousness make them think so either they are duely sensible of their own Guilt and its Demerits or they are not if they are they can't but at the same time be also sensible that their Crimes have deserv'd Severity but if they are not yet sensible they deserve it for not being so and there is no other way but that left since gentler means toward them have prov'd ineffectual to convince them And as for those who tho they may not find themselves so concern'd in it yet wish the Author had been more sparing he hopes when they consider the Occasion and the Seasonableness or rather Necessity of such Discourses thereon they may in a great measure excuse him however that they will forbear to censure him for that which he has not us'd toward them A SERMON PREACH'D September the 9 th 1683. 2 Sam. 22. 24. The former Part of the Vers Thou also hast delivered Me from the Strivings of my People DEliverances from Enemies have always been esteem'd by all sober and considering Men as the gracious Effects of God's providential Power and Goodness and therefore solemn Thanksgivings to Almighty God upon such Occasions have been very ancient and usual And tho it may have fall'n out as to such God's Deliverances as it did in cleansing the ten Lepers that scarce one of ten can be found where Glory has been return'd to him for them yet have we this Practice recommended to us by very many great and illustrious Examples and Presidents recorded in sacred and prophane Histories For when the Faithful Patriarch Abraham returned from the Conquest and Slaughter of the four Kings and offer'd the Tenths of all to Melchisedech Priest of the most high God he was entertain'd and blessed by the Priest who blessed God too on his Behalf for delivering his Enemies into his Hands The miraculous Passage and Escape of the Children of Israel and the fatal Overthrow of Pharaoh and of all his Host in the Red Sea were no less solemnly and joyfully celebrated by Moses and all the People And when the Lord had discomfited Jabin and Sisera with all their Forces then sang Deborah and Barak that memorable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Song of Triumph recorded in the fifth Chapter of Judges Nor may it seem improbable that in the Book of the Lord's Battels referr'd to by Moses Numb 21. 14. and in the Book of Jashar mention'd Jos 10. 13. and 2 Sam. 1. 18. as also in those many other Books of the Acts of the Kings of Israel and Judah mention'd and referr'd to elsewhere in Scripture all which are lost very many Passages of this Nature were set down at large Many indeed and great were the Troubles and Dangers of Righteous David but yet the Lord delivered him out of all and he forgat not to praise him for it as is evident from the several Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving composed by him on those Occasions and tho his wise and peaceful Son and Successor had not those Occasions his Blessed Father had yet we find him in dedicating the Temple which was accomplished with Prayers Praises and Sacrifices and with all Solemnities suitable to the Beauty Magnificence and Use of the Building blessing God also that had given Rest unto his People Israel And when the Inhabitants of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir came up against Jehoshaphat he did not only apply himself to God for his Aid and Succour by Prayer and Fasting but when the Lord had so signally own'd his Cause and absolutely gain'd the Victory to himself by turning the Enemies Hands against one another He was so sensible of the Deliverance and assembling all the People for the purpose return'd such an unanimous and solemn Praise that it gave Name to the Place where it was performed and it was thenceforth called the Valley of Blessing Neither were the Heathens wanting in consecrating part of their Spoils in offering Sacrifices in singing triumphant Hymns in erecting Altars and Temples to their Gods for their Victories over and Deliverances from their Enemies And when Christianity had taught to ascribe to the Lord the Honour due only to his Name and the Roman Emperours had submitted their Scepters to that of Righteousness then were they no less careful and punctual to appoint and observe set Times of publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God for his Mercies to and Protection over them Such great and pious Presidents has our most Gracious Soveraign for blessing God in this manner and indeed he wants not among his own Royal Religious and Renowned Ancestors for good Examples of such his Piety And tho 't is true their Thanksgivings were for Victories over Foreign Enemies and Formidable ones too which magnify'd God's Deliverances towards them and signaliz'd those good Occasions of their Thankfulness yet has not His Present Majesty less Cause to bless God who has delivered him from Domestick Foes from the Strivings of his own People My Text is part of that Psalm of Thanksgiving which as the Title thereof speaks the Royal Prophet sang in the Day that the Lord delivered him out of the Hand of all his Enemies and how proper it is on this Occasion I suppose it will not be difficult to discern from the Parallel of Holy David Soveraign's Troubles and Dangers and from their respective Deliverances For they were both train'd up in the School of Affliction and smarted for some time under the like severe Discipline after that they both enjoy'd a Time of Settlement Peace and Prosperity after which again their Enemies brake forth afresh and were much alike and their Deliverances many and signal and parallel in none more than in this Instance in
steal away the Hearts of the People and at last conspir'd against a most Gracious and Affectionate Soveraign and a most tender and indulgent Parent Now it having pleas'd Almighty God of his infinite Goodness to our most Gracious Soveraign and to his Kingdoms to deliver him from such Strivings of his People and Him and Us from this horrid and hellish Conspiracy concerning which we may say what was said of Absalom's the Conspiracy was strong and his Majesty having thought fit to appoint this Day for Solemn Thanksgiving for such his miraculous and happy Deliverance of which that we might be the more sensible having also publish'd his Royal Declaration concerning the Preparatives to the Methods and Progress of this Treasonable Conspiracy and ordered it to be twice read in our Churches we ought as in Duty bound to God the King and our Selves to return our most devout and humble Thankfulness to the Divine Author of this great Deliverance Which is the second Particular I am now to consider Thou hast delivered me c. Tho David when he withdrew from Jerusalem had besides his Houshold Servants six hundred of his Guards about him all experienc'd and valiant Men and such as were thought sufficient by Absalom and all his Counsellors except Achitophel upon Hushai's Advice to make a considerable Resistance if not to endanger the Overthrow of the Forces to be sent out after him Tho he had sent back Hushai a wise and trusty Counsellor with Instructions to apply himself to Absalom and to fall down and worship the Rising Sun and so to fall in with the Confederates and by pretending himself one of the Association to have thereby an Advantage to pierce into their Counsels and Resolutions and so to make them known to the Priests in Jerusalem whom the King had left there to advertise him of what should happen Tho he had gathered up those Forces that in pitch'd Battel in the Wood gain'd the Victory over Absalom and the Rebels yet he ascribes the Honour of all this to the Lord and celebrates him in this Psalm under all the Characters that might speak Defence and Refuge Strength and Security For says he v. 2. and so on The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and Deliverer The God of my Rock in him will I trust He is my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation my high Tower and my Refuge my Saviour Thou savest me from Violence And he goes on I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine Enemies And tho His Sacred Majesty has many Hearts to wish him well and to pray for his Preservation many Eyes to discover and many Hands to oppose all Conspiracies and Attempts against him tho he be well provided of Guards Forts at Land and Ships at Sea tho he be well stor'd with Arms and Ammunition yet for all these he owes his Safety to God for it was God that deliver'd him from the Strivings of his People And our Good King was so sensible of the Divine Mercy to him thereon that as it came from a very good Hand in the hearing of much People with no less Piety than Wisdom he declar'd That it was a Blessing of God he had no ways merited but that God knew his Heart and he believ'd had preserv'd him for the good Intentions he had always had to his People And surely no less sensible ought all his good Subjects to be of his Preservation in whose their own is so nearly concern'd nay methinks his very Enemies should stand amaz'd at his miraculous Deliverance and confess that it was the Lord's Doing and therefore it should be marvellous in their eyes For that in their most zealous and active forming and carrying on the Conspiracy there should happen such unaccountable Delays that in their repeated Designs they should meet with so frequent and strange Disappointments that at last God should make an Accident as it then seem'd subservient to his Gracious Purpose that a particular Fire should prevent a general Combustion that his Anointed should be as a Firebrand pluck'd out of the Burning that tho some few may suffer Loss yet that as the Apostle speaks upon another account he himself should be saved yet so as by Fire and that thereby the Conspirator's Works should be reveal'd that one of the hottest and most furious of the Accomplices should be the first touched with Remorse of Conscience to make a Discovery insomuch that as the Psalmist speaks Their own Tongue should make them to fall Such signal Instances as these of God's gracious and miraculous Protection of his Anointed together with all those providential Preservations of him through the whole Course of his Reign should one would think be a means to bow down the stiff Neck and the Iron Sinew of his most obdurate and rebellious Enemies and to discourage the most daring of those Sons of Violence for the future who have not hitherto been able to do him hurt Even the obstinate Egyptians perceiving tho late the bad Success of their Pursuit after and Attempts against the Israelites were so wise as to say Let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians and Gamaliel very well advis'd the Council that they should take heed to themselves what they intended to do as touching the Apostles for that if the Council or the Work were of God they could not overthrow it lest haply they should be found even to fight against God And surely they must be more hardned than those Egyptians and more obstinate than those Jews who shall still persist to conspire and attempt against him whom God has so signally and constantly preserv'd or as the Psalmist expresses it To devise how to put him out whom God will exalt Who shall think to tire out that Providence of God which has been unwearied in working Miracles for his Vicegerent's Preservation and to weary out his Majesty's lasting Clemency of which they have had but too great and long Experience to make such ill use and therefore may well be thought unworthy of it for the future But as his Enemies Malice so his own Goodness and God's Gentleness as 't is in the 36th v. of this Psalm together with his good Subject's Affections will assuredly make him great Great as he is Good and as much the Joy on Earth as he is the Care of Heaven And as those repeated and illustrious Evidences of God's Power and Goodness in the many and great Deliverances of the King and People of England afford the fullest and most effectual Answer to the like Question the Persian Emperour put to Daniel Is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee So in correspondence to the Tenour of the Decree made by Darius upon Daniel's Deliverance ought both King and People to fear and tremble before the Living God who is
stedfast for ever and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion even unto the End Who delivereth and rescueth and worketh Signs and Wonders in Heaven and in Earth and who then delivered Daniel from the Power of the Lyons and now hath delivered our David from the Strivings of his People And so I proceed to the Application And 1. Seeing it is God who hath delivered our David from the Strivings of his People we ought in due Acknowledgment of such his Mercy to return our most solemn and devout Thankfulness to him and surely the Prospect of those Miseries wherein had their execrable Design taken effect we had all e're this Day been involv'd ought in a sutable Measure to inhance our Gratitude to our gracious Deliverer who hath done so great Things for us and according to the excellent Form of the Collect we ought to yield him Praise and Thanksgiving for our Deliverance from those great and apparent Dangers wherewith we were compassed and to acknowledge it his Goodness that we were not deliver'd over as a Prey unto them For had not he infatuated their Counsels and blasted their Designs had not he turn'd the Wisdom of Achitophel into Folly and made Absalom's Progresses come to nothing the Policy of the one and the Popularity of the other together with the desperate and restless Machinations of the traiterous and blood-thirsty Sons of Violence who were not afraid to stretch forth their Hands to seize or to destroy the Lord 's Anointed would soon as indeed therein they had summ'd them up have brought upon this Land all the ensuing Calamities And therefore if the Lord himself had not been on our side may England as well as Israel say when such Men were for rising up against us we had surely fallen into their Hands whose tender Mercies are cruel And so not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name we give the Praise of this our happy Deliverance 2. Seeing it is God who hath delivered our David from these Strivings of his People as we ought to praise him for our past Deliverance so we ought to pray unto him for the Continuance of such his Protection and as we acknowledge it his Goodness that we were not delivered over as a Prey unto them so we must beseech him to continue such his Mercy toward us and as he has been a strong Tower of Defence to us now against the Face of our Enemies so that he may be our strong hold whereto we may always resort and as he has sent forth his Strength so that he would stablish the Thing that he hath wrought for us For tho the King has deservedly the Hearts and Affections of the most and best of his People and Mens Eyes being now open'd daily gains more and more yet it is the Lord that openeth the Eyes and turneth the Hearts of all Men whithersoever he will And though the King has his Guards and places of Strength yet except the Lord keep the City the Watchman waketh but in vain And if he keep it no Storm nor Assault can force it no Treachery can betray it no Works can undermine it no loss of Men or want of Provisions can necessitate it to a Surrender There is no Creature able to resist his Power there is no Policy or as the wise King speaks Counsel or Understanding against the Lord. He can abate the Pride of the most haughty and ambitious he can asswage the Malice of the most implacable and revengeful and he can confound the Devices of the most subtle and politick Tho Hand joyn in Hand they shall not go unpunished Tho as the Prophet Isaiah speaks They associate themselves they shall be broken in pieces tho they take Counsel together it shall come to nought tho they speak the Word it shall not stand For God is with us But seeing it is God that maketh Men to be of one mind in an House seeing it is he that maketh even our Enemies to be at Peace with us seeing it is he that can make our present Distempers subservient to our future Health and he that can command Light to shine out of Darkness can also out of our Divisions and Distractions produce Unity and Settlement we ought to pray unto him that he would unite our Hearts to himself to the King and to one another that we may all live in the Unity of the Spirit and in the Bond of Peace that his Majesty's Reign over us may be long and prosperous and that under him we may live a godly and quiet Life for Obedience to God and the King is the best Expedient to secure such Blessings to us and among the chief of them the Blessings of a good King who in the utmost Extent and height of the Character is the Minister of God to us for Good And therefore out of Policy and Interest as well as Obligation and Duty we should fear God and honour the King To this purpose let us hearken to good old Samuel's Advice to fear the Lord and to serve him in Truth considering how great Things he hath done for us lest if we still continue to do wickedly we be consumed both we and our King 3. And lastly seeing God hath delivered our David from the Strivings of his People let us not only praise him for the Deliverance and pray unto him for the Continuance of his Protection but let us endeavour to establish our most Gracious Sovereign's Throne to make his Reign safe and comfortable to him by a sincere and dutiful Allegiance and Subjection and by a ready and zealous Offering of our Lives and Fortunes when his Majesty's Occasions require Let us never on any Pretence or in any Exigence disown him whom God hath so powerfully and so miraculously owned In a word Let us by our strict and uniform Obedience to the Church of England endeavour to reduce the Dissenters from her and by our steady Loyalty to the King endeavour to win or awe the Factious and Rebellious to which end since Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft let us stop our Ears against those politick Charmers that would seduce us from our Allegiance charm they never so wisely For let them pretend what they will the King's Enemies are ours and they are God's Enemies too To conclude Let us observe those good Rules of the Apostle to mark those that cause Divisions among us and to avoid them Let us study to be quiet and to do our own Business and to these let us add the seasonable and wholsome Counsel of Solomon To fear the Lord and the King and not to meddle with them that are given to change FINIS Luk. 17. 18. Gen. 14. 18 19 20. Exod. 15. Judg. 4. Judg. 5. Psal 34. 19. 1 Kings 8. 56. 2 Chron. 20. 2 Sam. 16. 1 Sam. 22. 9. 17. 2 Sam. 20. 1. 2 Sam. 16. 17. Psa 65. 7. Isa 57. 20. 1 Kings 18. 44. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 15. Judg. 5. 23. Ps 2. 1. v. 2. v. 10. v. 5. Psal 149. 6. v. 7. v. 8. v. 9. 2 Sam. 16. 23. 2 Sam. 20. 1. 2 Sam. 15. 12. 2 Sam. 15. 18. 2 Sam. 17. v. 7 8 9. 10. 2 Sam. 15. v 32 33 34. v. 35 36. 2 Sam. 18. v. 6 7. Psal 118. 23. Amos 4. 11. 1 Cor. 3. 15. v. 13. Ps 64. 8. Exod. 14. 25. Acts 5. 35. v. 39. Ps 62. 4. Dan. 6. 20. v. 26. v. 27. Ps 124. 1. Ps 115. 1. Ps 71. 2. Ps 68. 28. Ps 127. 1. Prov. 21. 30. Prov. 16. 5. Isa 8. 9. v. 10. Ps 68. 6. Prov. 16. 7. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Eph. 4. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 17. 1 Sam. 12. 24. v. 25. 1 Sam. 15. 23. Ps 58. 5. Rom. 16. 17. 1 Thes 4. 11. Prov. 24. 21.